lovers lie
by colorful swirls
Summary: She's Rose Weasley, and being the smartest witch of your age doesn't leave much room for falling in love. - RoseScorpius, for Lucy.


**disclaimer**: I do not own Harry Potter.

**dedicated to**: Lucy (WeasleySeeker) because even though I often forget to respond to your PMs, I do remember how much you love RoseScorpius. ;)

**written for**: If You Dare, Pairing Diversity Bootcamp, Favorite Era Bootcamp, Fanfiction Triwizard Tournament - Task 2?, Life Of Your Favorite Pairing - Round 1, Weasley Family Bootcamp.

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:-:

She's Rose Weasley and her mother is Hermione _Granger_, and being the brightest witch of your age leaves no room for falling in love - or what she thinks is love.

:-:

Scorpius Malfoy is born and bred pure Slytherin. He's kind enough, but he's confident and he's cunning and yes, he's an improvement on his father, but not _that_ big of an improvement.

:-:

Being the daddy's little girl that Rose is, she hastens to pointedly ignore the Malfoy boy as obviously as she can. And when she _does_ look at him, it's with an orange flame in her eyes that really does not mix well with the dark brown color of her irises.

Albus simply shrugs it off. "She'll come around," he tells his best mate dismissively.

Scorpius doesn't believe him, but he doesn't say anything, because if there's one thing he learned about Albus Potter that day on the Hogwarts Express that they met, it's that naivety must run in the family.

:-:

In his fifth year, Scorpius is assigned to Rose as his partner for the final Potions project. There is a good and a bad side to this: she's smart, but she hates him. He looks over at her, in the corner of the room, to find her glaring at him. He sighs.

But Scorpius can feel Professor Patil's beady eyes on him, so he doesn't bother asking to switch partners.

:-:

It turns out alright, though. Rose does a very nice job at the project: to make an advanced potion, with no help from the professor, that takes at least two months to brew. She makes Amortentia, and it turns out just right.

The only down side is that she actually makes him help, but she only gives him easy jobs, and he likes the way the potion smells, anyway; faint, while it's brewing, but still slightly familiar - the scent of peppermint, parchment, and cinnamon.

:-:

One day, in their sixth year, Connor McLaggen - a fourth year - is teasing Albus's sister, Lily, about her hair.

"What'd you do?" the boy taunts. "Pour tomato juice on your head?" Now, Lily Luna Potter is not one to sit down and take insults, and she is just about at her breaking point when Rose and Scorpius, bickering over something or another, come walking down the hall.

The instant Rose sees Connor, she can sense trouble. "You," she demands, Scorpius immediately stepping up to stand in front of Lily protectively, "keep away from my cousin." Her voice is menacing, but apparently Connor isn't scared away by girls.

"Or what?" The obnoxious fourteen-year-old's eyes are narrowed.

"Or I'll rip you apart limb from limb," Scorpius growls from across the hall, still standing in front of Lily. Connor stands for a moment, and Rose thinks she sees the slightest tremble in his hands, before he scurries away. "Coward," Lily spits after him, her voice full of loathing.

"He is." Rose sends Scorpius a small, shy _thank you_ smile, and he returns it, and from that moment one they're almost friends.

:-:

They keep arguing, but about different things. The first time Scorpius has a girlfriend that lasts more than three months, Rose begins to get agitated. "What's wrong with him?" she demands of Albus.

"I think he likes her," her cousin answers feebly, looking nonplussed, and Rose softens slightly. "I think so, too," she agrees morosely, and then she settles for glaring at Lira Finnigan's back.

The girl has an ugly back, Rose decides savagely.

:-:

The next year, everyone spends Christmas at the Burrow. The entire Weasley-Potter family is excited for the holiday; this can be a good or bad thing. At dinner on Christmas Eve, Rose passes Scorpius the potatoes, and in the brief instant that their hands touch, she feels all a - a tingle.

It's the good kind of tingle. Rose feels herself flush as she says that; Lily giggles at her softly, then looks at Albus in the manner of one that is disappointed. Rose shakes her head - Lily is confusing, but not as much as the boy beside her. She sends Scorpius a side long glance. He's eating, completely oblivious, joking with James and Fred occasionally.

Rose sighs.

:-:

"Do it," Lucy hisses into his ear. "You've got nothing to lose!"

"Yes, I do," Scorpius cries as quietly as he can. "My dignity, my friend - "

"As the matchmaker of this family, I _demand_ that you tell her how you feel." Lucy puts her foot down. Scorpius looks over at Rose; she's sitting in an armchair, smiling down at the baby - Teddy and Victoire's daughter - she holds gently in her arms.

He's got everything to lose, but everything to gain, as well.

:-:

"So," Rose says, stopping her stride and looking up at him. "Can I ask why you wanted to walk in the middle of a storm?" Her eyes sparkle with mischief.

"I, er, I didn't really know there was a storm," he admits sheepishly. "I just - I wanted tell you something." He stratches the back of his neck nervously.

"What?" She looks interested.

There's no going back now. For a moment, he looks at her eyes - that deep, chocolate brown - and tries to summon the little bit of courage in him that made the Sorting Hat _consider_ Gryffindor. Of course, this proves to be difficult, because after all, the Sorting Hat _placed_ him in Slytherin. He looks at her eyes again, and -

"I love you," Scorpius says says outright, with that confident air he has finally coming out.

Rose looks up at him, eyes wide as the rain continues to beat the ground around them. She looks into his eyes - grey, like the sky - and she thinks that maybe what she sees is sincerity. Or, maybe it's not.

But then he kisses her, and she forgets to care if it's sincere; she forgets to care about what will come of this, because her mother is Hermione _Weasley_, and Weasleys were never known for being the sharpest pencils in the box.

:-:

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**a/n**: please don't favorite/alert without reviewing, thanks! also, about the end, that wasn't Weasley bashing - i love them, i was just making a point.


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